Customisation versus Configuration

The design stage of technology implementations is incredibly important. If you don’t consider what you’re hoping to “get” from the system and design it accordingly, you may miss opportunities for reporting and analysis in the future.

When implementing “off the shelf” software, you will usually have 2 design options; (1) Customisation; and (2) Configuration.

The simplest way to differentiate these 2 options is:

Customisation = Custom coding completed by software developers

Configuration = Changes using the capabilities already in the software

Configuration is available in most software solutions. This is where you establish attributes / parameters to customise the software to your needs. For example, in a professional service office you may select different time recording tasks. In the future you can then analyse the time data of your team.

Customisation requires software developers to make unique changes to the codebase to suit your needs. Customisation is therefore more flexible than configuration. It is, however, important to always ask your provider about how customisation impacts future patches, updates and enhancements.

I suggest holding workshops to identify the best configuration and/or customisation needs for your team. Items to consider are: (1) what reporting and analysis do you want to extract from the system; and (2) what future-proofing initiatives need to be considered?